Holly Jolly Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy 7) by Jessica Clare-Review & Excerpt
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play /
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date October 26, 2021.
Local waitress Holly Dawson needs a better paying job to cover her sister’s college tuition. Given that it’s Christmas and she’s broke as a joke, she’s feeling pretty bah-humbug. New jobs are hard to come by in a town as small as Painted Barrel, especially as the town dropout.
When Holly’s offered a job at the Flat C Ranch to clean and cook for the cowboys that work there, it seems like a dream come true…except for one thing. Her nemesis, the incredibly handsome (and annoyingly arrogant) Adam Calhoun works there. It doesn’t matter that he loves dogs more than people, or that he’s a war veteran. No Christmas spirit can save that particular grinch.
When the rest of the ranch hands go out of town for the holidays, Holly and Adam will be forced to work closely together. No sweat. Holly can deal with Adam. And if she doesn’t kill him first, she just might fall in love.
••••••
REVIEW:HOLLY JOLLY COWBOY is the seventh instalment in Jessica Clare’s contemporary, adult THE WYOMING COWBOY, erotic, cowboy, romance series. This is waitress/baker Holly Dawson, and rancher Adam Calhoun’s story line. HOLLY JOLLY COWBOY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Holly and Adam) HOLLY JOLLY COWBOY follows the enemies to lovers relationship between waitress/baker Holly Dawson, and rancher Adam Calhoun. For months, Adam Calhoun and some of the local ranchers have visited the café where Holly works but for some reason Adam has takes an immediate dislike towards our story line heroine, and continues to humiliate her at every chance he gets. When Holly is offered a job to cook for the cowboys at a local ranch, our heroine jumps at the chance only to come face to face with her nemesis Adam Calhoun. Refusing to bow to Adam’s games, Holly one-ups Adam only to become the focus of the ultimate failure and betrayal. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Holly and Adam, and the potential fall-out when Adam reveals the source of Holly’s mortification leaving a stunned and heart broken heroine in its’ wake.
Holly Dawson had to give up her dreams with the death of her parents, leaving Holly to raise her younger sister by herself. Working two jobs to pay for her sister’s education, Holly is hoping to one day open her own café or bakery but struggles in the aftermath of a humiliating failure. The only bright spot is her relationship with Adam which has turned friendly and sexual, a relationship that is about to royally implode. Adam Calhoun has disliked Holly Dawson from the moment they met believing our heroine is a phony and a fraud but Adam has no idea as to the extent of Holly’s need to thrive, and in this, Adam continues to push at Holly every chance he gets. Arrogant and infuriated, Adam crosses a line from which Holly may never step back.
The relationship between Adam and Holly begins acrimoniously as Adam spends months embarrassing Holly at her place of work but Holly refuses to break every time. Holly is a generous, hard working heroine who must do battle with the local bully, a bully who has set his sites on our story line heroine. Holly doesn’t understand what she did to make Adam hate the very ground upon which she walks, and with it, Holly must walk the walk in order to survive. Working at the ranch, Holly must face Adam on a daily basis but never expected to fall for the man that is about to destroy her dreams. The $ex scenes are passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The secondary and supporting characters include several ranch owners Sage Cooper and Jason Clements ( A Cowboy Under The Mistletoe 3), Becca Loftis (The Cowboy Meets His Match 4), Caleb Watson (Her Christmas Cowboy 5), as well as Holly’s younger sister Polly, and a cameo by Adam’s brother Mike.
HOLLY JOLLY COWBOY is a story of betrayal and vengeance, misunderstanding and heart break, forgiveness and love. The character driven premise is captivating and engaging; the romance is affectionate and tender; the characters are strong-willed, independent and determined.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
All I Want for Christmas is a Cowboy
The Cowboy and His baby
A Cowboy Under the Mistletoe
The Cowboy Meets His Match
Her Christmas Cowboy
The Bachelor Cowboy
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
Berkley Mass Market Original | On sale October 26th, 2021
ExcerptAdam Calhoun did his best to ignore their waitress as he took off his hat and hung it on a peg near the door. It was clear she loathed him and was pretending for the tip. He hated that sort of thing, and it just made him want to stiff her even more. She was so obvious about it, too, her smile fake and sweet as she poured cups of coffee and took orders. She didn’t even glance at him as she took his down, just focused on her pad as she wrote. She had plenty of smiles for Carson and Jason, though, which just irked him.It wasn’t that he was ugly. Most women thought he was nice-looking. Adam was just vain enough to know that he had a good smile and a decent personality, and that usually let him get the attention of most women he flirted with. Most. Because waitress Holly was probably the prettiest thing in this town-and several others around-and yet she couldn’t stand him. He drained his coffee cup while the others ordered and then held it in the air, a silent request for more.
Her eyes flashed with anger momentarily, and it was quickly covered up by that fake smile again. “Be right back.”
She hustled off, her round bottom shaking with every step, and okay, he was red-blooded male enough to watch.
“Now you’re just baiting her,” Jason commented, sipping his own cup.
Maybe he was. There was something about Holly that drove him absolutely up a wall. Maybe it was that she was always all smiles, even when she clearly didn’t feel like it. Her clothes were a little tighter than they probably should have been, her festive red sweater practically painted on her lush figure, and her jeans showing off her curves. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a bouncy long ponytail atop her head and fastened with a big, garish Christmas bow. She looked festive and flirty and it irked him.
Maybe it was that the first time he’d come in, she’d flirted up a storm with him and so he’d tipped well. He’d even come back later that night, after thinking about her all afternoon, only to see her flirting with another customer like she’d done with him, and he’d realized it was all for tips. It made him angry. Made him feel stupid. So he’d left a dollar.
He’d left a dollar ever since, too. Just to make a statement.
He had a dollar sitting in his wallet today, waiting for the opportunity to poke at her again.
Holly brought back the coffee, taking his mug with a cool expression and filling it quickly. “Separate checks today, boys?”
Jason raised a finger before Adam could answer. “One check. I’m paying for lunch today.”
“In that case, make my sandwich a double,” Adam drawled. “Didn’t know it was free.”
The waitress’s demeanor brightened. “Well, aren’t you sweet, Jason Clements.” She winked at him. “You want me to pack up a sandwich for your lovely wife, too? The bread’s nice and fresh and I can make hers with extra pickles, just as she likes.”
Jason nodded. “That’s a great idea. Thanks.”
“I’ll have it ready by the time you leave.” She touched Carson’s shoulder, then leaned over him to pour his coffee, and Adam found himself staring at her tits. She wasn’t shoving them in anyone’s face but . . . how did she expect a man to concentrate when she wore a sweater like that? Ridiculous. She patted Carson’s shoulder again, then turned and left, swanning her way to another table full of men. A moment later, her bright laughter floated through the saloon, and it made him grit his teeth.
Jessica Clare is the pen name for Jill Myles.
Jill Myles has been an incurable romantic since childhood. She reads all the ‘naughty parts’ of books first, looks for a dirty joke in just about everything, and thinks to this day that the Little House on the Prairie books should have been steamier.
After devouring hundreds of paperback romances, mythology books, and archaeological tomes, she decided to write a few books of her own – stories with a wild adventure, sharp banter, and lots of super-sexy situations. She prefers her heroes alpha and half-dressed, her heroines witty, and she loves nothing more than watching them overcome adversity to fall into bed together.
Website: http://jillmyles.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJessicaClare?directed_target_id=0
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_JessicaClare
Goodreads: http://tinyurl.com/q4272wf
